Instinct
by Rin Berry
Summary: A fic with just about everything? Romance? Adventure? Drama? Confusion? Humour? (I don't think) Poetry? Can it be? Well, no. Scenes from the book (plus a few of my own) to a song by Crowded House.


16:23 14/10/00  
Dudes. It's me. Again. I suppose I must have lied when I posted that thing saying I wouldn't post stuff for a while.  
Well. I figure I can't write anything in the Simply Irresistible series, cos that's all on my broken down computer. But now that I'm getting over my 'flu, my dad has let me go on his computer on the condidtion that I don't sneeze on it. Well, that's life. ::sneezes:: ooops.  
OK, the song is Instinct by yet another great Aussie band (Oz has the best stuff, Savage Garden, Crowded House, me....) Crowded House. I dug out their CD and haven't stopped listening to it since. I got bored of the 'Phonics for a while. ::gasps from people saying "Kate? Not listening to the Stereophonics? We're gonna die!" etc etc::  
So. I guess you'd better read on. The things skip from book to book, and from POV to POV. Sorry about that, but the bits of the song just make sense for those parts. (or they do **now**) :-P And yeah, I know there's not much original material in there, but hey. Give me credit. My head is pounding. I feel like a particularly spiky iguana crawled into my throat, moved things around in there, did its business, sent some of its friends into my head to do the same thing, and then stretched out and died.  
Oh yeah, the bits that are songs are italic and in the *asterix's*. No, not the cartoon character. And the bit of stuff in the middle of "Feelings come and go, Where the true person lies its calling down" is not mine, its my friend's. No-one else has seen it. Oh smeg, she might get annoyed with me. Oops. Anway, the bits that you either don't recognise or can't work out are mine from my fic Simply Irresistible or A Minute Longer. OK? 

* * *

_*I lit the match  
I lit the match*_

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "I know what this is- it's Devil's Snare!"  
"Oh, I so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant curling round his neck."  
"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Hermione.  
"Well hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled round his chest.  
"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare... What did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp-"  
"So light a fire! Harry choked.  
"Yes-of course- but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.  
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"  
"Oh, right!" said Hermione, and she whipped out her want, waved it, muttered something and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at the plant. In a matter of seconds the two boys felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unravelled itself from thier bodies and they were able to pull free.  
"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," said Harry as he joined her by the wall, wiping sweat off his face.  
"Yeah," said Ron, "and lucky Harry doesn't loose his head in a crisis- 'there's no wood', _honestly_."

_*I saw another monster turn to ash  
Felt the burning lifting from my back*_

"You're wrong," he said aloud to the still and silent Hat. It didn't move. Harry backed away, watching it. Then a strange, gagging noise behind him made him wheel around.  
He wasn't alone after all. Standing on a golden perch behind the door was a decrepit-looking bird which resembled a half plucked turkey. Harry stared at it and the bird looked balefully back, making its gagging noise again. Harry thought it looked very ill. It's eyes were dull and, even as Harry watched, a couple more feathers fell out of its tail.  
Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore's pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when the bird burst into flames.  
Harry yelled in shock and backed away into the desk. He looked feverishly around in case there was a glass of water somewhere, but he couldn't see one. The bird, meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave one loud shriek and next second there was nothing but a smouldering pile of ash on the floor.

_*Do you recognise the nervous twitch  
That exposes the weakness of the myth*_

It was Quirrell.  
_"You!"_ gasped Harry.  
Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all.  
"Me," he said calmly. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."  
"But I thought-Snape-"  
"Serevrus?" Quirrell laughed and it wasn't his usual quivering treble, either, but cold and sharp. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he... So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"  
Harry couldn't take it in. This couldn't be true, it couldn't.

_*When your turn comes round  
And the lights go on*_

Applause shattered the wintry air like borken glass; Krum had finished- it would be Harry's turn at any moment.  
He stood up, noticing dimly that his legs seemed to be made of marshmallow. He waited. And then heard the whistle blow. He walked out through the entrance of the tent, the panic rising into a crescendo inside him. And now he was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence.  
He saw everything in front of him as though it was very highly coloured dream. There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at him from stands which had been magicked there since he'd last stood on this spot. And there was the Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd were making a lot of noise, but whether friendly or not, Harry didn't know or care. It was time to do what he had to do... to focus his mind, entirely and absolutely, upon the thing that was his only chance...

_*And you feel your attraction again  
And your instinct can't be wrong*_

"Well if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" yelled Hermione; her hair was coming out of its elegant bun now, and her face was screwed up in anger.  
"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back, "What's that?"  
"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!"  
Ron mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of water as Hermione turned on her heel and stormed up the girls staircase to bed. Ron turned to look at Harry.  
"Wel," he spluttered, looking thunderstruck, "well- that just proves- completely missed the point-"  
Harry didn't say anything. He liked being back on speaking terms with Ron too much to speak his mind right now- but he somehow thought that Hermione had got the point much better than Ron had.

_*Separate the fiction from the fact  
Feel a little slow to react*_

Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes tightly shut.  
"It was a dream," he told himself firmly, "I dreamt a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."  
There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.  
"And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door," Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.  
Tap. Tap. Tap.  
"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."  
He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlighht, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in it's beak.  
Harry scrambled to his feel, so happy he felt as though a large baloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. Thw owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered on to the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.  
"Don't do that."

_*But it's nearly time to flick the switch  
And I'm hanging by a single stitch*_

"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?" Pettigrew yelled out for the whole of the street to hear, and it was working, people were staring at the both of them.  
"I didn't do anything, and you know it, Pettigrew." Sirius said, his voice turning to a growl, reminicent of when he turned into a dog. "You handed them over to Voldemort... they're your friends! Or were." He finished, his eyes narrowing as he slinked up to Pettigrew.  
"Yes I did..." The smaller man said, trying not to cower as the taller and more experienced man towered over him. "And I would have done exactly the same thing to you..." his voice shrank to a whisper, "..if I wasn't going to er... 'die' tonight."  
"What do you mean?" Sirius said, confused.  
"You'll see." And then, very quickly, Pettigrew conjoured a knife and sliced his finger. It didn't work, and hung there, swinging, blood dripping onto the pavement below. "Dammit!" He cursed.  
"Huh. You never could get anything right, could you Wormtail." Even at a time like this, Sirius could still find something to mock Pettigrew with.  
"Shut up!" Pettigrew snarled, bringing the knife down once again, and his aim was true. The finger fell to the floor, and then he raised his wand. Sirius quickly backed away, as Wormtail shouted 'Avada Kedrava', and tranformed into a rat and slipped down the nearest drain. Sirius yelled as people dropped to the floor around him, and as muggles wearing black and white uniforms came chasing him, holding guns, he stood shaking his head, without putting up a fight.

_*Laughing at the stormy face of gloom*  
When your turn comes round  
And the light goes on*_

"Seen anything yet?" Harry asked them, after a quarter of an hour's quiet crystal gazing.  
"Yeah, there's a burn on this table," said Ron, pointing. "Someone's spilled thier candle."  
"This is such a waste of time," Hermione hissed. "I could be practicing somehting useful. I could be catching up on Cheering Charms-"  
Professor Trelawney rustled past.  
"Would anyone like me to help them interpret the shadowy portents within thier Orb?" She murmured over the clinking of her bangles.  
"I don't need help," Ron whispered. "It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonght."  
Both Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.  
"Now, really!" said Professor Trelawney, as everyone's heads turned in thier direction. Parvati and Lavander were looking scandalised. "You are disturbing the clairvoyant vibrations!" She approached their table and peered into thier crystal ball. Harry felt his heart sinking. He was sure he knew what was coming...  
"There is something here!" Professor Trelawney whispered, lowering her face to the ball, so that it was reflected twice in her huge glasses. "Something moving... but what is it?"  
Harry was prepared to bet everything he owned, including his firebolt, that it wasn't good news, whatever it was. And sure enough...  
"My dear..." Professor Trelawney breathed, gazing up at Harry. "It is here, plainer than ever before... my dear, stalking towards you, growing ever closer.. The Gr-"  
"Oh for _goodness_ sake!" Said Hermione loudly. "Not that ridiculous Grim _again_!"

_*And you feel your attraction again  
And your instict can't be wrong*_

Ron walked out of his office, having finally decided to get off his couch and do some work. It was no use thinking about Hermione. But it was like a bug that had got into his brain... not that he was comparing her to a bug, that would be like comparing her to Rita Skeeta! But he couldn't get Hermione out of his head. She was constantly in there, never getting out... And there was still that familiar thing about the taxi driver that was annoying him. But Hermione... she was so beautiful! She wasn't 'perfect' like Lavender, she was natural, she had depth! She was the most amazing woman he had ever known...  
Ron stepped into the lift, going down to the ground floor. Would he ever see Hermione again? He had to! He just HAD to!  
The lift stopped and the doors opened. Ron looked up from his feet to see...  
"Hey. Your meal came with dessert."  
"Oh. Nice to see you here! What's this?"  
Hermione gave Ron the box and looked as he opened it with the sense of a small child openeing a Christmas gift. That led her on to wonder what she would get him for Christmas- it was only a few weeks away. Then she went on to think about what she would be getting their children.. woah! Slow down Hermione! She thought to herself. It was no use thinking about stuff that wouldn't happen. But their was something between them, she was sure of it....

_*Feelings come and go  
Where the true person lies its calling down*_

Hermione felt her cheeks flush slightly. She and Ron had danced around a relationship ever since their fourth year. But nothing had ever come of it. Maybe both of them were too afraid to admit their feelings. Maybe nothing would ever happen. They would both just go onto other things, other people, and never see each other again after tomorrow. That thought made Hermione feel sick to her stomach. She had wanted something to happen between them so badly her heart ached. But nothing ever had. She wondered what Ron thought about all this. She wondered if he cared.  
~~~~  
On a sudden impulse, Hermione threw her arms around Ron's neck in a tight hug. And, unlike when they were younger, he didn't look disgusted. He put both of his arms around her, and both got rather teary-eyed. They stayed like that for a very long time.  
When finally they pulled apart, their faces were about an inch apart. And slowly they leaned towards each other. Their lips met, sweetly and passionately, and it felt so right, so perfect. The two friends who had been slowly falling in love with each other for so long finally expressed the emotions they had been holding in for years.

_*Calling down  
Yeah  
Laughing at the stormy face of gloom  
When your turn comes round  
And the days get long*_

Harry didn't want to leave. Hogwarts made him feel safe, especially with his grandfather and Dumbledore around. Dumbledore had given Sirius a teaching job when Professor Snape so _unfortunately_ decided to leave to persue his dreams of becoming a.. er.. holiday rep. If Harry ever needed anyone, they were there. As were his friends. They were great friends. Ready to congratulate him on his achievements, keep him away from his despairs. He'd love to stay there longer. He, Ron and Hermione had made vows to go back there to teach one day, all together.

_*And you feel your attraction again  
And your instinct can't be wrong*_

"I'll be up in a minute," James said, looking at Lily, sitting alone by the Griffindor fire, "You guys go on ahead without me." he never once looked at his three friends as they climbed up the staircase to the dorms, but he heard thier sniggers, especially Sirius'. James walked over and sat down next to Lily, trying to meet her eyes. "Lily? Are you OK?"  
There was no reply, just a small sob.  
"It's OK, you'll be fine," James said, resisting the temptaion to put a conforting arm around her shoulders. "Everything will be all right..." he spoke gently, as if not to frighten her.  
The anger building inside Lily grew stronger, but she kept her head down and didn't move.  
"You'll be OK... everything will be all right." James repeated.  
Lily's anger exploded.  
"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!? Are you just some kind of divination freak?!? Can you foresee into the future, or see into the past?!?" she demanded, while James just looked at her. "If you can do that, mister, then you might just see how happy I was when I was around my little sister! But no, even though she was at this school, you never once looked up from your little world of brains, Quidditch and turning into an animagus! YES I KNOW YOU'RE AN ANIMAGUS!" She shouted, as he looked up, shocked. "You think I never watch your every move? I like you so much and you've never ONCE realised! Don't you get it? My little sister is dead! My older sister Petunia doesn't care! She thought she was a freak, just like me! I might as well be a freak! I at least thought that at this point in my life I might have someone to talk to about it, but I'm an outcast! I have no friends, no boyfriend, no life! I've never been good at anything until I came to Hogwarts, but now my little sister is dead and no-one cares!" She broke down in tears, having no energy left to shout at James with, or to even support herself. She almost collapsed, but James caught her just in time, and sat her down. He held her to him, whispering in her ear, wiping her tears away...

_*Calling down  
Just calling down...*_

* * *

Ah... the end. This was bad, I know. But still review. Flames welcome.. I could always use some more in hell. Unfortunately defrosting chickens on them doesn't work. It generally defrosts them so much they come back to life.


End file.
